Just four months after coming through Asian Tour Qualifying School with a tied-13th result, the 20-year-old Thai claimed his maiden Tour victory in his very first start at the Bangabandhu Cup Golf Open.

The in-form Sadom was eager to make his quick impression on the Asian Tour having lifted his first professional win at the Thongchai Jaidee Foundation 2019 in February on the Asian Development Tour (ADT).

After opening his campaign with a 65, he blitzed a stellar field at the halfway stage with a stunning 62, giving him a three-shot advantage into the weekend.

Displaying the confidence of a Tour veteran, Sadom extended his lead with a 68 before a closing 70 was enough for him to take home his second win in three months.

“Winning in my first start on the Asian Tour, I feel very happy. I will take a lot of positives from this week and this win will give me a lot of confidence in my game. It’s been an unbelievable journey since turning professional last December,” said Sadom, who earned a winner’s prize purse of US$63,000.

The young Thai surged into the eighth spot on the current Habitat for Humanity Standings and made history by becoming the fastest Qualifying School graduate to win on the Asian Tour.

Despite his success, Sadom believes his best is yet to come as he sets his sights on fulfilling his full potential on the big leagues.

“My initial goal was just to keep my Asian Tour card for the next season but now I have won on both the Asian Development Tour and the Asian Tour. I am really happy, I didn’t expect to do so well and I will have to work harder to get even better after this,” said the Thai.

The top-60 players on the final Asian Tour Habitat for Humanity Standings will earn their playing rights for the 2020 season. Australia’s Scott Hend continues to lead with a current haul of US$520,392 while Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond trails in second place on US$439,594.

The Tour will head to Korea and China for the GS Caltex Maekyung Open and the Volvo China Open respectively. They will both get underway from May 2 to 5.

Ends.

Top-20 players on the Habitat for Humanity Standings

Pos   Player  Order of Merit

1. Scott HEND (AUS) $520,392.25

2. Jazz JANEWATTANANOND (THA) $439,593.77

3. Masahiro KAWAMURA (JPN) $249,266.67

4. Zach MURRAY (AUS) $189,140.71

5. Johannes VEERMAN (USA) $158,720.00

6. Scott VINCENT (ZWE) $83,845.03

7. Chikkarangappa S. (IND) $77,128.12

8. Sadom KAEWKANJANA (THA) $63,000.00

9. Prom MEESAWAT (THA) $61,743.10

10. Ajeetesh SANDHU (IND) $58,564.08

11. Panuphol PITTAYARAT (THA) $55,807.48

12. Ben CAMPBELL (NZL) $55,648.48

13. Jarin TODD (USA) $55,251.05

14. Nicholas FUNG (MAS) $51,160.16

15. Rashid KHAN (IND) $50,334.38

16. David LIPSKY (USA) $47,100.00

17. Berry HENSON (USA) $47,072.46

18. Siddikur RAHMAN (BAN) $45,909.67

19. Paul PETERSON (USA) $45,039.20

20. Terry PILKADARIS (AUS) $43,847.10

However, the fact Jurgen Klopp’s men top the Premier League in their quest to end a 29-year wait to win the title and face Porto in the first leg of a Champions League quarter-final at Anfield on Tuesday, is largely thanks to Mane.

As Salah’s goals dried up in an eight-game drought prior to Friday’s 3-1 win at Southampton, Mane assumed the mantle as chief goal getter with 11 in his last 13 Liverpool appearances taking his tally for the season to 20.

That run included a double away to Bayern Munich last month that eased the five-time European champions past the German giants and eyeing another shot at Champions League glory.

His first goal in particular at the Allianz Arena was a demonstration in the 26-year-old’s pace, skill and calmness in front of goal.

Mane controlled a raking long pass from Virgil van Dijk, rounded Manuel Neuer and then dinked the ball into an unguarded net.

“I’m going to have to watch back 500 times,” admitted Klopp after the game. “It’s astounding what he did.”

Mane scored 10 Champions League goals in all last season, including in the final.

However, his brave header in Kiev to bring Liverpool briefly level was quickly forgotten amid the furore over Salah’s early shoulder injury that saw him hobble off and aided Real Madrid’s route to a third straight European title.

While Salah now carries himself with a swagger from the star status he has earned over the past two years, Mane’s humble nature means he often remains under the radar for a player of his quality.

In September he was filmed helping to clean the toilets at his local mosque just hours after scoring in a vital away win at Leicester.

Last week in an internal interview with Liverpool’s club media, he detailed a daily routine that consists of healthy eating, prayer and early nights.

“That’s how a normal day for me looks. This is my dream, this is something I’ve always wanted to do, and I am so grateful that I am able to do it now,” he said.

“My dream came true, to play for one of the biggest clubs in Europe with a great team, a great manager.”

Porto are already very aware of the threat Mane poses.

When the sides met in the last of the Champions League last season, he scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 first leg rout in northern Portugal that killed the tie as a contest even before it even returned to fortress Anfield.

This time round, Liverpool will be keen to get the job done in the first leg on home soil.

Klopp’s men have not made life easy for themselves in recent weeks on league duty, requiring late goals to see off Fulham, Tottenham and Southampton to keep their title dreams alive.

However, just by keeping pace with quadruple chasing Manchester City all season, they have shown a maturity and mental strength that has evolved from the kamikaze matches that carried them to last season’s final.

“The boys are mentality monsters – I love that,” said Klopp after victory at Southampton.

Moreover, unlike when Sergio Ramos’s takedown of Salah seemed to suck belief from Liverpool against Madrid almost a year ago, they now have a cast of characters capable of stepping up.

Goalkeeper Alisson Becker and talismanic centre-back Van Dijk have strengthened the defence.

And, at the other end, Mane has shown he can be counted on at the business end of the season.

The 23-year-old Ko finished in style by draining a long birdie putt on 18 for a two-under 70 final round in the first major of the season at the Mission Hills Country Club near Palm Springs, California.

“I can’t believe it,” said Ko, who is the fifth South Korean to win the event. “I was nervous on all my shots.”

Ko, who is in her second year, finished with a 10-under 278 total for her fourth LPGA title. She also won the Hope Founder’s Cup last month.

Ko celebrated her win by taking the traditional dip with her caddie in Poppie’s Pond — the water hazard located off the right and back of the green on 18.

Lee finished alone in second after shooting a two-under 70 while American Lexi Thompson was third with a brilliant final round of 67 to reach a six-under 282 total.

Kim In-kyung and Carlota Ciganda, of Spain, tied for fourth at five under, five strokes back of Ko.

Ko started the round with a one shot lead. She played steady golf on the front nine with two birdies but saw her lead slip to just one stroke over Lee when she made bogey on the 15th hole. She landed her approach in the bunker and then two-putted on the green. It was her second bogey in three holes.

But Ko got one back by sinking a superb putt for a birdie on the par-four 16th. She parred 17 then iced the win with an emphatic 20 foot birdie putt on 18.

Not only is she the fifth South Korean to win here, Ko is the 15th in history to win a major. The only country that has more major wins is the United States.

In addition to the professionals, five amateur players competed in the event continuing a longstanding tradition of exemptions for top women amateurs.

Patty Tavatanakit, who is ranked third in the world, finished as the top amateur in the field after closing with a four under 68 a tie for 26th with nine others — including fellow Thai Pornanong Phatlum.

Jagielka was only drafted into Everton‘s starting line-up at the last minute due to an illness suffered by Michael Keane.

The Everton defender made the most of his call-up with the game’s only goal in the early stages at Goodison Park.

It was another away-day flop for Arsenal, who maintained their wretched record as the only club in the top four divisions of English football not to have kept a clean sheet on their travels this season.

Unai Emery’s side remain fourth in the Premier League, but they are ahead of fifth-placed Chelsea only on goal difference as the race to qualify for the Champions League heats up.

Everton had already threatened from one of Lucas Digne’s long throw-ins before the full-back delivered the set-piece that led to Jagielka’s opening goal on 10 minutes.

His throw was flicked on by Jagielka himself, for Dominic Calvert-Lewin to attempt a header on goal that led to the ball taking a kindly bounce, falling to the unmarked defender who swept the ball in with the minimum of fuss from close range.

There were Arsenal appeals for offside, and television footage seemed to show that Digne’s foot might have been over the line in the process of taking his all-important throw.

But it was certainly a dramatic intervention from Jagielka, who had only been called into the team minutes before kick-off.

Jagielka, 36, has suffered a difficult season at Goodison, with a series of knee problems limiting him to three starts, but his impact on this occasion could not have been greater, or much quicker.

It was also the former England international’s first goal since April 2017 as he became the oldest player to score in the Premier League this season.

An early attack by Alexandre Lacazette had ended with a low shot skidding just beyond the far post but, as Arsenal’s tendency to reserve their worst performances for away games looked like continuing, it was Everton who grew in confidence.

– Attacking impetus –

Not that they overly troubled Bernd Leno in the visitors’ goal.

Gylfi Sigurdsson did manage to produce his side’s second shot on target before the half-time whistle.

That was enough for Emery who, acknowledging his own pre-match selection gamble had failed, sent on Aaron Ramsey and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at the interval, resulting in an almost immediate improvement.

A cross from the latter was punched clear weakly by Jordan Pickford, offering the ball up to Ramsey who volleyed over the open goal from 12 yards.

Aubameyang went close as he met Shkodran Mustafi’s chip forward but failed to get enough power behind his header.

Despite the second-half improvement from the visitors, Evertonmaintained their own attacking impetus.

A poor header from Ainsley Maitland-Niles let Bernard close in on the Arsenal goal, where Leno was required to block well.

With Richarlison and Sigurdsson becoming increasingly influential, a second Everton goal beckoned, especially when the Brazilian’s cross picked out his Icelandic team-mate, who shot straight at Leno.

And the home side really should have doubled their lead on 73 minutes when a Sigurdsson shot was charged down by Sokratis and Richarlison sliced the rebound well wide from a promising position.

But Everton, who won against top-six opposition for the first time in 26 games on their last home match against Chelsea, still managed to repeat that feat with the minimum of late scares.

A long shot from Henrikh Mkhitaryan that bounced wide after 70 minutes proved to be Arsenal’s last throw of the dice.

The 23-year old from Seoul fired a four-under 68 to lead second round leader Kim In-kyung as the Korean juggernaut steamrolled its way to the top of the leaderboard at the Mission Hills Country Club course near Palm Springs, California. Four of the top seven players are Korean-born.

Ko said she is going to stick to her game plan going into Sunday’s fourth round.

“I just have to play golf, 18 holes,” she said. “I am not nervous, and I am not afraid.”

Ko’s round was far from perfect as she stumbled down the stretch with a double bogey and bogey on Nos. 14 and 15 respectively to reach a eight-under 208 total.

The reigning LPGA rookie-of-the year led by five strokes at one stage after sinking a long putt on the par-four 10th.

But her tee shot on 14 landed in the water and she dropped further with a bogey on the next hole which saw her lead cut to just one stroke.

“I’m not a robot, I’m human,” Ko said about the pitching wedge wobble on 14. “Everyone can do a miss shot. Doesn’t matter. It happens sometimes.”

Kim is in sole possession of second place and just one stroke back after shooting a one-over 73.

She struggled on the front nine but bounced back on the back and closed with a birdie on the last hole.

Lee Mi-hyang and Korean-American Danielle Kang are tied for third at five under 211, three shots back of Ko.

Lee blasted a superb hole-in-one on the 181 yard 17th hole to put herself into contention.

– Big picture –

Kim was trying to look at the big picture after a frustrating round in which she surrendered a three-shot lead to start the day.

“I quite lost it,” she said. “I don’t know what it is, expectations I could (not) live up to.

“I was tough on myself but I learned a lot and tomorrow is another day.

“I hit many good shots. So far, it is already my best year.”

The 30-year-old Kim is hoping to redeem herself after missing a 35 centimetre (14 inch) putt on the 18th hole of the 2012 tournament that would have delivered her the championship.

Instead she went into a playoff with compatriot Yoo Sun-young where she lost on the first extra hole.

Despite her final hole stumble in 2012, Kim is not without a major victory. In 2017, she captured the Women’s British Open, in a season that saw her win three times on the Tour.

Canada’s Alena Sharp, Australian Katherine Kirk and Lee Jeongeun6 of South Korea are tied for fifth at three-under. Sharp shot the best round of the trio with a five-under 67.

In addition to the professionals, five amateur players are competing in the event continuing a longstanding tradition of exemptions for top women amateurs.

Patty Tavatanakit, who is ranked third in the world, is the top amateur in the field after shooting an even-par 72 on Saturday to move into a tie for 50th with seven others — including fellow Thais Ariya Jutanugarn and Pornanong Phatlum.